Kitchen Matters: The Best Clean Eating Cookbook for Everyday Cooking

Saturday Chopped Salad from Kitchen Matters

I am so excited to share the news that my client Pamela Salzman’s first cookbook, called Kitchen Matters, is officially out today! Pamela is one of those rare clients whom my former business partner Jenn and I stalked on Instagram, emailed, and basically harassed until she agreed to work with us almost three years ago. Jenn and I both love to cook, and found daily inspiration from her blog and social media long before we knew her. Kitchen Matters is a collection of easy to follow recipes and I think is the best clean eating cookbook out there for weeknight cooking.

Pamela is the wife you wish you had—and certainly, I wish I had. She is a mother of three, a teacher, a businesswoman, a recipe developer, a chef, a holistic health counselor, and defines the word influencer. She has created a community of dedicated students, teaching people from all walks of life how to get into their kitchens and make dinner for their families using whole foods—avoiding fad diets—and inspiring you to eat healthfully without sacrificing flavor or spending a fortune. I can honestly tell you that I cook from her recipes multiple times every week, am obsessed with her dinner planner, and am totally in awe of how she refused to hear the word “no” when she set out to write her first book. She worked endlessly for over a year, and the result is a culmination of her favorite clean recipes, meal-prepping tips, and the answers to questions she hears over and over in home kitchens. While I’m not one to shy away from trying uber complicated dishes in restaurant-chef cookbooks, Kitchen Matters is the one I will turn to most days of the week. And so should you. Read on for a little taste of the Summer Chopped Salad!

Saturday Chopped Salad w/ Everyday Salad Dressing

Serves 6 · Vegetarian, GF, Vegan adaptable, DF adaptable

One Saturday at lunchtime, I took some leftover undressed salad and chopped it all into the smallest pieces I could, transferred it to a big bowl, and tossed it with my “house dressing.” It was the most addictive salad I have ever eaten, and it was the first salad my son (who is not the biggest consumer of vegetables) inhaled enthusiastically. I started making a chopped salad every Saturday for lunch. I can’t say I’ve ever made a chopped salad the same way twice, nor do you really need a recipe, but this is a good place to start. I’m sure you see that the goal in preparing the vegetables is to cut them about the size of a pea. I use my Everyday Salad Dressing here because it goes with anything and everything.

1 head romaine lettuce, finely chopped (about 6 cups)

3 cups diced red cabbage (or a mix of cabbage and chopped endive)

3 radishes, finely diced

1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered (optional)

1/3 cup pickled shallots, diced or 5 pepperoncini, seeded and finely chopped

1/2 bunch chives, finely chopped

2 Persian cucumbers, finely diced

2 carrots, finely diced or julienned and finely chopped

2/3 cup Everyday Salad Dressing

1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced

3 ounces feta, preferably goat’s milk feta, crumbled (omit for vegan/DF)

Additional protein: quinoa, diced cooked chicken (not vegan), tuna in olive oil (not vegan), canned salmon (not vegan), chopped hard-boiled egg (not vegan), chickpeas

1. Combine the lettuce and cabbage in a large bowl. Add the radishes, cherry tomatoes, pickled onions, chives, cucumber, and carrots. Toss with enough dressing to coat lightly. Add the avocado and feta and drizzle with a small amount of dressing. Toss very gently with your hands to incorporate into the salad without smearing avocado and feta everywhere.

Other variations:

Chopped oranges instead of tomatoes and toasted sunflower seeds instead of cucumbers in the winter and spring;

Radicchio and endive in place of some of the romaine;

Fresh or grilled corn in place of the carrots.

Everyday Salad Dressing

Vegetarian, GF, DF, Vegan adaptable

This is a bold statement, but no vinaigrette out there is better than one you can make with high-quality ingredients at home, especially a good unrefined oil. This is truly the perfect vinaigrette. It has the most delicious balance of acidity and oil, a little sharpness from the shallots, and hint of sweetness. I make a double recipe every week and use it on almost every green salad, no matter what the ingredients, as well as on any salad I am spontaneously pulling together.

1 small shallot, minced (about 2 teaspoons)

3/4 to 1 teaspoon sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons raw honey (omit for vegan) or pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons unpasteurized cider vinegar or red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar

3/4 cup unrefined, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil, or 1/2 cup olive oil + 1/4 cup flax oil

1. Either whisk together all the ingredients, including black pepper to taste, in a small bowl or place them in a glass jar with a lid and shake until emulsified.
2. The dressing can be made ahead and kept in a glass jar in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days. Because olive oil solidifies when chilled, you will need to remove it from the refrigerator well before you want to use it, for it to become pourable. Or you can leave the dressing at room temperature in a cool, dark place for a few days. If you use flax oil in the dressing, it must stay refrigerated.

Photos by Amy Neunsinger

Excerpted from Kitchen Matters: More than 100 Recipes and Tips to Transform the Way You Cook and Eat—Wholesome, Nourishing, Unforgettable by Pamela Salzman. Copyright © 2017. Available from Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

PS. More recipes, including Homemade Eucalyptus Ice Cream & A Mini Olive Oil Cake, Homemade Almond & Macadamia Nut Milk, and a Peach Daiquiri for Two perfect for summer!